Latest Cases

Family proceedings – Orders in family proceedings. Having carefully weighed two competing placement options, concerning a child (A), who was the subject of an interim care order, it was held that his welfare required that he remained in the care of his mother, who had previously had mental health issues, but where she did not have a clinically diagnosed disorder and was meeting A's needs to a good standard. The Family Court held that the risks of placement with her were sufficiently ameliorated by being managed under the proposed 12-month supervision order and with compliance with a written agreement. Accordingly, the court granted a 12-month supervision order in the favour of the applicant authority. Further, A's father was granted parental responsibility and the court endorsed a final care plan, as amended, in respect of contact.

Probate – Grant. The Court of Appeal of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court had correctly decided that the marriage contract relating to the testator's second marriage had not prevented the testator from bequeathing his property by testamentary disposition. The Privy Council so held, among other things, in dismissing the appellant daughter's appeal against the Court of Appeal's decision. The Board considered the relevant provisions of the superseded Civil Code of St Lucia of 1879, relating to dower and the effect of a contract of marriage on the ability of a husband to dispose of property by testamentary disposition.

Pleading – Amendment. The applicants' application to amend their claim failed. The Chancery Division held that, on any analysis, the claim being presently pleaded was a new claim. Further, the court had no discretion to allow the amendments, because the conditions of s 35 of the Limitation Act 1980 and CPR 17.4(2) were not met. The new claims did not arise out of substantially the same facts as were already in issue.

Unfair dismissal – Remedies. When ss 115 and 117 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 were read together, an 'order for re-engagement' was not intended to impose an absolute and indefeasible obligation on the employer to re-engage the employee or a correlative right in the employee to be re-engaged. Rather, the Court of Appeal, Civil Division, held it created a situation in which the employer had to either re-engage the employee or become liable for the awards specified by s 117 (3), which included an additional award on top of what it would have had to pay if no re-engagement order had been made.

Employment – Disability. The appellant Constabulary declined the respondent police officer's application to transfer to it on the basis that she suffered from an unacceptable level of hearing loss. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, held that the Employment Tribunal had been correct to find that that decision had amounted to discrimination on the basis of a perceived disability.

Immigration – Identity. The claimant, who came to the UK from Bangladesh, had produced sufficient evidence to prove that he had been born after his father had been registered in 1974 as a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies. The Queen's Bench Division, Administrative Court, accordingly held that he was thus entitled to British citizenship.

Transport – Licence. A Senior Traffic Controller decided that a bus company and its managing director had lost their good repute and should be disqualified from holding a vehicle operator's licence. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, held that the Upper Tribunal (Administrative Appeals Chamber), in dismissing the appeal against that decision, had been correct to take into account a video, commissioned by the company's managing director and uploaded onto YouTube, which showed the Senior Traffic Controller driving her car in a private capacity together with captions accusing her of hypocrisy.

Property – Resulting trust. A judge had not erred in holding, among other things, that the respondent held a 100% beneficial interest in a residential property in Luton (the property), the legal title to which was held by the appellant. The respondent had successfully contended before the judge that it had been agreed between the parties that the appellant would secure the mortgage to purchase the property on the respondent's behalf, and that the latter would pay the deposit and meet the monthly mortgage payments. The respondent had made payments towards the mortgage and he had resided in the property with his family since its purchase. The Queen's Bench Division, in dismissing the appellant's appeal, held that there was no basis on which the judge's primary findings of fact could be disturbed, and that he had clearly found that there was a resulting trust, notwithstanding he had not used that term, and that the agreement was that the entire beneficial interest was to be respondent's. The court further held that the appellant's agreement to incur the liability of the mortgage was not sufficient, in itself, to confer on him any beneficial interest in the property.

European Union – Consumer protection. Article 5(3) of Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, read in the light of recitals 14 and 25 thereof, should be interpreted as meaning that the presence of petrol on a runway of an airport which had led to its closure and, consequently, the long delay of a flight to or from that airport, fell within the concept of 'extraordinary circumstances' within the meaning of that provision, when the petrol in question did not originate from an aircraft of the carrier that had operated that flight. The Court of Justice of the European Union so held in proceedings between the applicant passenger and Ryanair Ltd, concerning the latter's refusal to compensate that passenger for a long delay to his flight.

Disclosure – Disclosure of documents. The claimants' case against the defendant private investigators succeeded, in an action concerning the disclosure of information. The Commercial Court held that, among other things, the defendants had breached their obligations of confidentiality in making disclosures to an investigative journalist and to a firm of Cypriot lawyers, and the disclosures had not been in the public interest.